Type-writer keyboard.



TYPE WRITER KEYBOARD.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 27, 1909. 964 349, Patented July 12, 1910.

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MA'IIAS TREJOS, OF SAN JOSE COSTA RICA.

TYPE-WRITER KEYBOARD.

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To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MATIAS TREJos, a citizen of the Republic of CostaRico, and a resident of San Jos, Costa Rica, Central America,haveinvented a new and Improved Type-WVriter Keyboard, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description. 5

Among the principal objects which the present invention has in view are:to provide an arrangement of the keys for operating a typewriterconforming to the natural arrangement of the thumbs and fingers of theoperator when resting in an extended position; to provide an arrangementof extra or special keys disposed between the double banks of the usualkeys; and to provide spacing and shift keys disposed wit-h reference toconvenience for operation by the thumbs of the operator.

In the drawing is illustrated the arrangement of keys conforming to thisinvention.

In illustrating the invention I have used the characters of the alphabetas they occur in the Spanish language. Any characters may be adopted,preserving the key features of the arrangement, which may be stated asfollows: a

The alphabetical arrangement is preserved in its successive order,beginning with the letter a. on the one side of the center, and placingthe succeeding letters I), c and (Z on the same line and on the sameside of the keyboard. These four letters will thus naturally fallbeneath the four fingers of the right hand when any one of the lettersin the line is being used. In the same line, on the opposite side of thecenter of the keyboard, are arranged in serial order the letters e, f, gand it. On the line immediately below are disposed, on the right, theletters 2', j, Z and m, and on the left the letters 0, n, 15 and p.Onthe upper line, on the right, are disposed the letters 9, r, s and t,and on the left are disposed the letters u, '0, w, and e.

In the natural disposition of the hands of the operator upon thekeyboard, it is intended that the thumbs should rest upon the auxiliarycontrol keys marked on the right of the center Capital and on the leftof the center Sign. The supporting springs for the auxiliary controlkeys are preferably strengthened to form of the said keys rests for thehand whereby the same may be supported to some extent by the said keys.With the thumbs resting on the keys marked Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed November 27, 1909.

Patented July 12, 1910).

Serial No. 530,085.

Capital and Sign it will be seen that the four fingers of each hand restnaturally on one of the three lines of keys marked with the alphabeticalcharacters, numerals and writing signs. Also, it will be seen that thearrangement of the key board is rapidly and readily understood, as thealphabetical arrangement is outward serially from the center. Further,by reason of the disposition, the vowels are all arranged in the twolines of the three banks adj aeent to the center division.

The disposition of the numerals is also arranged with reference toserial order. For convenience, however, the numeral one and the numeralsix are placed side by side within the center space above referred to asseparating the banks of keys. By means of this arrangement, when thesaid center space is arranged, as shown, for two lines of keys, thereare provided five keys to each side, constituting equal division offives of the numerals employed.

The arrangement of the signs of punctuation marks, and other charactersused in writing is more or less arbitrary.

In the center space are provided certain extra keys, provided for extraletters, accented letters or characters not frequently employed, butdesirable for actual use.

On a line with the auxiliary control keys mentioned, there are provideda margin release key marked Margin and a back space key marked Backspace. These keys are employed in the typewriting machines of usualconstruction, and operate in the manner well known. In operating thesekeys, when using a key board designed as above stated, they aredepressed by one or the other of the thumbs, according as the key to theright or left of the space key be used.

Vith a key board thus constructed, the operation is as follows: Instarting a sentence, and desiring a capital letter, the thumb of theright hand is depressed upon the shift key marked Capital. While thusdepressed the letter desired is struck by the finger resting above thesame on either the right or left of the key board. Immediately afterhaving struck the capital, the shift key is permitted to resume itsnormal position, while the thumb rests more lightly upon the said shiftkey. The sentence is written, the fingers of the right and left handsbeing operated to select the proper letters. Between each word the thumbof either the right or left hand is shifted to the key marked Space,which is at the proper time depressed with the customary result ofshifting the platen of the writing machine. If, during the course ofwriting, a letter is mis-struck, by placing the thumb of the right handover the back space key and depressing the same, the carriage is shiftedbackward to present the space which has been formerly impressed with thewrong character. In this position the proper character may be heavilystruck over the former character, thereby correcting the copy. If, atthe end of the line, the margin lock interferes with the continuation ofthe spelling of a word, this may be removed by depressing the key markedMargin, which operates to release the lock and permit the carriage topass beyond.

With a machine operating on a key-board such as shown in theaccompanying drawings, the auxiliary control keys marked Sign andCapital provide for two different shifts, one of which presents thecapital letters corresponding to the letters shown on any of the keys,while the other shift presents in printing position the printingcharacters arranged to imprint the punctuation marks and other writingcharacters carried by the said keys.

Throughout the operation it will be observed that the keys at the loweredge of the key board are operatedby the thumbs of the hands of theoperator, and that the said thumbs may be shifted from one to the otherof the keys with very little movement, not sufficient to disturb thearrangement of the fingers on the lines of keys of the key board.

The double row of keys centrally arranged, as illustrated in thedrawing, may, if desired, be increased to three or more rows. These rowsare devoted to the unusual char acters, and they are generally depressedby the index fingers of the operator, thereby permitting the saidarrangement of the fingers to remain unchanged.

Throughout the arrangement of the keys according to this invention, itwill be noticed that the shift of the fingers from one or the other ofthe three lines of letters carries the shift of the four fingers of onehand, thus arranging for only three positions for each hand of theoperator. All requirements for the depressing of keys outside of thesearranged positions for the fingers are accomplished by means of thethumbs of the operator. It is by thus reducing the number of positionsof the hands that the memorizing of the key board is facilitated.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is 1. A typewriter keyboard, comprising aplurality of superimposed lines of keys dis posed in line groups of fourupon opposite sides of the median line of the keyboard; two shift keys,one of which is disposed on each side of the said median line inposition convenient to the thumbs of the oper ator; and a space keydisposed between said shift keys.

2. A typewriter keyboard, comprising a plurality of three superimposedlines of keys disposed in line groups of four upon opposite sides of themedian line of the keyboard; and a plurality of auxiliary control keysextended in opposite directions on each side of the said median line andin convenient arrangement to the thumbs of the operator.

3. A typewriterkeyboard, comprising a plurality of superimposed lines'ofkeys disposed in line groups of four upon opposite sides of the medianline of the keyboard; a plurality of auxiliary control keys extended inopposite directions on each side of the said median line and inconvenient arrangement to the thumbs of the operator; and a space keydisposed on the said median line to divide the said shift keys.

4. A typewriter keyboard, comprising two groups of keys embodying aplurality of superimposed lines of keys disposed in line groups of fourupon opposite sides of the median line of the keyboard; a group of keysdisposed between the two first mentioned groups in vertical arrangementat the said median line to carry infrequently used printing characters;a plurality of auxiliary control keys extended in opposite directions oneach side of the said median line and in convenient arrangement to thethumbs of the operator; and a space key disposed on the said median lineto divide the said shift keys.

5. A typewriter keyboard, comprising two grou17 s of twelve keysarranged in superimposed lines of four keys each upon opposite sides ofthe median line of the keyboard; a third group of keys disposed betweenthe first two groups and in juxtaposition thereto, adapted to carryprinting characters in frequently used; a plurality of auxiliary controlkeys extended in opposite directions on each side of the said medianline and in convenient arrangement to the thumbs of the operator; and-aspace key disposed on the said median line to divide the said shiftkeys.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of subscribing witnesses.

MATIAS TREJOS.

Vitnesses SAMUEL T. LEE, EMAND E. JIMINEZ, Feo. BATILER GUNoz.

